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Big M Weekend: AMA SuperSport and Daytona SportBike Results

Written by Brendan Brehm May 28, 2012 0Add

Martin Cardenas at Miller Motorsports Park.

Sports Info

The BigM Weekend at the Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah celebrates Memorial Day with a mix of motorcycles, music, and military. Among the first races to take place on Sunday were the AMA SuperSport and Daytona SportBike classes.

In the SuperSport class, Hayden Gillim (Road Race Factory) took his first win of the season, while in the Daytona Sportbike class, Martin Cardenas picked up his fourth.

SuperSport Results

Gillim has been a little inconsistent in his finishes this season, but on Sunday he nailed it. He led nearly every lap in the 13-lap race and managed to put a pretty decent gap between himself and runner-up, Jake Lewis (Versah Suzuki).

Gillim’s lead shrunk towards the end of the race as his tires started to give out, but he held firm and finished a little over a second before Lewis. Gillim credits his early lead in helping him score the win despite the problems with his tires.

“I built up a big enough of a gap that they couldn't quite catch me," Gillim said. "I think one more lap, they would have been right there."

Lewis was trailed closely Dustin Dominguez (Castrol Triumph), who took third place within half a second of Lewis. The next few finishers were fairly spread out, with Thomas Puerta (Yamaha) coming in fourth, followed by Stefano Mesa (Kneedragger.com).

Although usually placing somewhere on the podium, James Rispoli (Celtic Racing Suzuki) finished way down in eighth, right behind Elena Meyers (SuzukiScoop). Nevertheless, Rispoli still leads the SuperSport West class in points. After Sunday’s race, Gillim moved up to second, while Meyers was bumped down to third.

Daytona SportBike Results

The Daytona SportBike race was full of excitement, with Cardenas snatching the lead at the last moment. Jason DiSalvo (Latus Motor Triumph) led the pack for the majority of the race, followed closely by Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha). Beaubier was even able to get in front of DiSalvo a couple of times, but his bids for first never lasted long.

Meanwhile, Cardenas was right behind these two waiting for his chance to strike. With seven laps to go, Beaubier dropped back and Cardenas moved up to within a half-second of DiSalvo. It wasn’t until the final corner that Cardenas made his move and swept right past DiSalvo to take the win by .100 seconds.

Down the line, Beaubier and Jake Zemke (Ducshop Racing) were entangled in a similarly heated battle. In the end, Beaubier was able to fend the Ducati rider off, but only by a fraction of a second.

Nearly ten second later, Bobby Fong (Meen Motorsports) rode into fifth place on his YZF-R6. He was momentarily followed in by a pack made up of Dane Westby (Lucas Oil Suzuki), JD Beach (Red Bull Yamaha), and Benny Solis (Kneedraggers.com), who took sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively.

After Sunday, Cardenas will remain at the top of the Daytona SportBike standings. He now touts a 31 point lead over Tommy Hayden (Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha), who finished in a disappointing ninth place.